Dishonesty
by FenMoon
Summary: Did they really think that they could hide this from her forever? request fic for FriendoftheVampires892, Chouza/Inoichi yaoi


**Okay, this story's a request from FriendoftheVampires892, who asked for a Chouza/Inoichi story. I hope that it meets your standards. I'm not all that sure about it, but then again I feel the same about most of my stories. Let me know what you guys think.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its characters, which when I think about it is probably for the best.**

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Dishonesty

At first, Ino had been surprised, but not really bothered. She wasn't blind, after all. She had seen the bounce in her father's step, and the almost permanent smile on his face. Ino, of course, immediately came upon the most obvious conclusion. She quickly decided that she was happy for him. After all, until now, he had spent all his time between his daughter, his flower shop, and his missions. It was good for him to be dating again.

Still, she wondered why he hadn't introduced her to the lucky lady yet. So, for the next couple of weeks, she kept an eye on him and cased every woman that walked into the store. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to have even a passing interest in Inoichi, and vise versa. Shizune _did_ stick around longer than the others, and she seemed to be on friendly terms with the Yamanaka patriarch, but after a few minutes of eavesdropping, it became obvious that the only connection between them were poisons.

Now, Ino was suspicious. She was sure that her father was seeing _someone_, but as far as she could tell, there was no one that he was spending more time with. Ino had considered Kurenai, Shizune, and even that weird jonin Anko, but no dice. Inoichi didn't seem to be hanging around with any woman in the village more than usual.

"I couldn't be wrong, could I?" Ino asked her teammates when they were out for lunch one day. Another week had passed, and still she had had no luck, so now she was conferring with Shikamaru and Chouji. "I mean, I know my dad. He's definitely dating, I just don't know who."

Shikamaru just sighed. "Does it really matter? If you're wrong, this whole thing is just a waste of time. If you're right, then your father has to have his reasons for keeping this hushed up. Either way, you're better off just letting it be."

Ino decided to blatantly ignore Shikamaru's logic and turned to her other friend. "What do you think, Chouji?"

"Huh? O-oh, w-well…I…I-I think Shikamaru's right on this one." And with that, Chouji promptly started stuffing his face again, only a little more hurriedly than before. Ino groaned and rolled her eyes. Chouji had been acting strangely lately. For the past few days, he had been sullen and curt to both her and Shikamaru, and now he looked like Ino had just caught him with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.

She'd work on that later, though. Now, she had to focus on the problem closer to home. Since her teammates had been utterly useless, and Sakura hadn't had any ideas, Ino went back to observing her father covertly. She was going to find out whom Yamanaka Inoichi was seeing even if it killed her. So, once again, she spent two weeks tailing, eavesdropping, and observing her father without his knowledge. This time, she didn't just look for women. Now, she focused on anything that had changed in Inoichi's usual routine.

What she found, however, was not what she expected. It turns out there was someone who her father had been spending more time with. Ino just hadn't noticed because she was already used to the presence. Besides, she usually focused on Chouji and not his father when they stopped by.

When she looked, though, she could definitely see it. She saw how both Akamichi seemed to stop by more often. How Chouza's usually placid expression was much more joyful whenever they came by, and how her father immediately dropped whatever he was doing during their visits. She noticed how when she and an irate Chouji (although she still didn't know why) left the shop, both fathers would stay behind. Also, Inoichi had been going out at night lately, saying that he was "drinking with his old teammates." While this was nothing new, one time it was on a night when Ino knew that Shikamaru's parents were spending the evening together, so "teammates" only meant Chouza.

The final straw, however, was one morning when Ino had gone to pick up Chouji for a mission. As she waited for her friend to finish getting ready, she looked around the living room. Despite their voracious appetites, Chouza kept a very tidy home. It actually looked like something out of a home décor magazine. The carpet was tan and the walls a dark brown, while the furniture was made of mostly cherry wood.

Ino froze, however, when she laid eyes on a flower filled vase sitting on a mahogany shelf. The vase itself was nothing special. It was a plain eggshell, decent and tasteful, but nothing about it really stood out. What did stand out to the girl, however, were the flowers sitting inside. They were very beautiful, but that wasn't the point. The Yamanaka flower shop had just received several of the exact same flowers yesterday, and they hadn't been put up for sale yet. The only way that Chouza could have had those flowers was if Inoichi had given them to him.

What really surprised Ino, however, was the meaning of those flowers. Just to make sure, though, she checked her books as soon as she got home from her mission.

_Eternal devotion_

That clinched it.

After spending about a day in a half to mull it over, Ino decided that she was, in fact, mad. Not over the fact that her father was seeing Chouza, mind you. Her mother had died in childbirth, while Chouji's had been lost on a mission when they were five, so technically, it wasn't an affair. And she was open-minded enough not to care about gender. Besides, the Yamanaka and Akamichi clans, along with the Nara, were close enough to practically be family anyways. The idea of members of the clans becoming a couple was not only possible, but somewhat inevitable.

No, what bothered Ino was that her father didn't have the guts to tell her. She felt insulted that Inoichi thought that she wasn't mature enough to handle her father dating another man. Ino had half a mind to march downstairs and give her father what for.

Actually, that sounded like a really good idea. So, that night, she walked down to her father's study. She decided that actual marching wasn't going to help her. After all, if she wanted to confront her father, she'd be better off catching him by surprise. So, she quietly snuck towards the door and reached for the knob.

"I envy you, you know."

Ino froze at her father's voice from behind the door. Had she been caught?

"How come?" That was Chouza's voice. So she hadn't been caught. Still, if Chouza was here, she might as well listen in for a little bit. More ammunition for when she did go in the room.

"Well, you actually had the courage to talk to Chouji about this."

Ino could hear Chouza snort. "Yeah, and now he won't talk to me."

"Oh, don't worry, Cho. He'll come around eventually."

"I hope you're right, Inoichi. Still, you're the one who should be envied. Telling my own son that I was gay was one of the most difficult things in my life, and he just blew up at me. At least Ino isn't avoiding you."

Inoichi sighed. "Believe me, Chouza, you're the one who's better off. I'm not sure how much longer I can do this."

"By this, do you mean…_us_?"

"What? NO! No, not us. I'm not giving you up, you can count on that. I mean I'm not sure how long I can keep this from Ino. She should know that I'm seeing someone. She deserves to know. But I'm just too, well, scared. She's all I have now, and I don't want to lose her."

Now, Ino was starting to feel guilty. She had come to her father in order to, if she was completely honest with herself, yell and berate him for not telling her the truth. If she hadn't stopped to listen and had gone on with her intentions, then her father's worst fears would have been realized. She hadn't taken into account that Inoichi might have had his own concerns and fears about confessing to his precious daughter.

"Well…" Now Ino could hear some motion inside the room. "…You _do_ have me."

Inoichi chuckled. "That is true."

Ino realized what was about to occur, so if she was going to do anything, she had to act quickly. She did, however, change her original plan.

The girl knocked on the door. "Daddy," she called out, "can I come in?" Ino smirked as she heard a few creative cusses and some fumbling around. After giving some them some time, she removed the smirk from her face and slowly opened the door. "Daddy? Are you in here?"

Ino walked into the room, keeping her normal posture as she looked around. Inoichi was sitting in a chair, while Chouza was plopped on the couch. Both looked more than I little disheveled. Ino had to hold in her laughter as she kept up her act. "Oh, Uncle Chouza! What brings you here?"

The adult Akamichi smiled nervously. "Does a man really need a reason to visit a close friend?"

'_Friend' isn't quite the word I'd use._ Ino kept that thought to herself though. "Well, since you're here, why don't I make us all some tea."

"Th-that's all right, honey," Inoichi stammered. "I already made us some. No need for you to put yourself out for us."

"Oh?" Ino put on her best confused face as she looked around the room. "That's funny. Where are the tea cups?"

"Oh, I've already cleaned them."

Ino delicately raised an eyebrow. "While you had a guest?"

"W-well, no reason to have clutter around, right?" With that, Inoichi began a laugh that was clearly forced. Chouza joined him.

Ino just stared at the both of them. For ninja, they were terrible liars. She shrugged. "Whatever. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that I'm heading out for a while."

Inoichi looked relieved. "That's fine, honey. Have fun!"

"Thanks, daddy." Ino turned on her heel and began to leave, but stopped just as she was about to put one foot outside the room. "Oh, by the way, mind if I ask you something, Uncle Chouza?"

"Uh, sure. What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just that Chouji's been somewhat…well…upset lately. He won't tell Shikamaru or me why. Do you know if anything's wrong with him?"

"Oh…well…"

Chouza looked down at his feet. Ino could tell that he was feeling horribly guilty. She looked over at her father, who had a sympathetic look on his face, along with a little guilt of his own. Ino decided to let them off the hook. "Well, whatever it is, he seems to be coming down from it. He'll probably be over whatever's bugging him in a few days. Sorry if I worried you."

Chouza looked at her, a slight smile appearing on his face. "No, it's quite alright. Thank you for looking out for him, Ino."

"Of course. After all, Chouji's like a brother to me. Well, I'll be going now. You two enjoy yourselves."

Then, Ino left the room and the house, out into the moonlit streets. Okay, so it hadn't been the confrontation that she had planned. Still, if her father wasn't ready, then it was best that she not push it. Besides, she could have decidedly more fun paying him back like this for keeping it a secret from her.

Right now, though, she had to go find a certain teammate. It was time she had a heart-to-heart with Chouji. After all, not only had he been keeping secrets from her, but also it was more than slightly hypocritical of him to be angry with his father. Did he really think that no one knew what he and Shikamaru were doing when they went off together to watch clouds? Pfft, as if!

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**A/N: Well, there it is. Hope that you like it, FriendoftheVampires892. This is the first request that I've done, so it's also the first time I've felt that I have to meet someone else's standards. So let me know what you think.**

**Oh, and about the "Uncle Chouza" thing. The way I see it, the Nara, Akamichi, and Yamanaka clans are very tight knit, and have been for a while, to the point where they see each other as family, so in a way, Chouji's father has become a sort of Uncle to Ino and Shikamaru, and the same for the rest of their parents.**


End file.
